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The Bison fire continues to burn in the Pine Nut Mountains southeast of Carson City. Lyon County Sheriff’s deputies are going door to door in the Pipeline Canyon neighborhood of Smith Valley, asking residents to evacuate.

The Bison fire command wants people who live in the area north of Artist View and west of Upper Colony Road to leave voluntarily, according to a notice issued by Lyon County Manager Jeff Page.

A temporary shelter is opening at Smith Valley Baptist Church on Hudson Way, Page said.

The fire was up to 25,733 acres at last report, and it continues to billow smoke.

Firefighters made progress Tuesday on the south, west and north sides of the fire, cutting a line around 40 percent, incident Cmdr. Mike Whalen said.

“Additional heavy helicopters assisted in the aerial firefighting efforts (Tuesday), with winds posing less of a problem on certain areas of the fire than in past days,” Center Information Officer Elayn Briggs said.

The southeast edge of the fire continued to creep down the ridge toward Pipeline Canyon.

“A trigger point was reached that let the Lyon County sheriff know it was time to start the voluntary evacuation for Pipeline Canyon,” Briggs said.

The fire, which more than doubled in size Monday, elicited an increase in resources with more than 1,000 firefighters comprising 35 hand crews, 32 engines, four bulldozers and nine helicopters, in addition to nine air tankers. Nightfall grounded the aircraft.

Both ends of Sunrise Pass Road are closed to anyone who doesn’t live in the area, as are Pinenut Road at Out-R-Way, East Valley Road at Grandview, Brunswick Canyon Road and Mexican Dam Road.

About 200 firefighters have been stationed in Smith Valley to fight the fire on the Pine Nuts’ eastern slope.